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Post by linseed on Jul 9, 2023 21:00:15 GMT
Anyone watch this? I’m recording it due to Wimbledon. Interested to hear what people think
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Post by vicky on Jul 10, 2023 7:58:06 GMT
I lasted for about 20 minutes and then gave up. Everything is dark and drab as though they used a sepia filter even for the scenes in Beirut. I was a bit put off by early outdoor scenes that were captioned February 1963 with not a flake of snow in sight. I remember that time very well indeed as we were in the midst of one of the coldest, snowiest winters on record so someone hadn't done their research very well. I also thought the jumping from scene to scene, character to character in a disjointed way made it hard to establish an early sense of the story and time line. I was getting bored so I switched off.
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Post by sleepyp on Jul 10, 2023 8:58:46 GMT
Glad it wan’t just me
I refuse to believe all interviews, conversations etc were conducted in semi-darkness!
It’s a riveting piece of history, many books and a couple of documentaries available, but they’ve made this version totally unappealing
I forgot about the snow! I remember that year very well
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Post by vicky on Jul 10, 2023 15:27:25 GMT
I've just read the Telegraph's review. It makes the points I did about the drab darkness of it all and the disjointed backwards and forwards in time but still has the headline "Shout it from the rooftops - this spy drama is pure class". As usual I disagree with their critic!
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Post by beatxt on Jul 10, 2023 17:32:34 GMT
The first episode seemed to get slower and slower! The M&W moment near the end raised it but only for a minute or too.
We were left wondering where it's going to go for 5 more episodes? With the cast involved I somehow don't think it's going to turn into Mission Impossible  . |
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Post by goodhelenstar on Jul 10, 2023 17:48:37 GMT
This was shown last year and generally had good reviews. I found it slow, much too long, and not as exciting as spies and double crossing ought to be, perhaps because it began with Philby being outed and was about the cat and mouse between him and Elliott, whom most of us have never heard of. Anna Maxwell Martin's character is fictional, a composite of various people involved in the interrogation, and I felt her character was a bit over the top in presenting the face of modernity amidst all that old boy network snobbery.
Having said all that, it's a great character study of Philby and good performances all round. But I wouldn't fall over myself to watch it again.
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Post by marion on Jul 13, 2023 8:33:36 GMT
I really enjoyed it!😂😂😂 Agreed, it is terribly dark but at least I could understand them so not a total Jamaica Inn. But I am sure I have watched something extremely similar to this, all about the Beirut stuff for sure, both as a drama and as a documentary so it’s hardly new ground. I thought the bit in the theatre where he sees Philby on stage was well done. I shall definitely continue watching.
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Post by linseed on Jul 13, 2023 19:31:51 GMT
Having just watched the first episode I see what everyone means about the darkness. A good story spoiled by straining my eyes trying to see it
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Post by marion on Aug 9, 2023 8:28:42 GMT
Anyone still watching. It is still very slow and dark but quite interesting and slightly quirky. It isn’t helped by having so many different plot lines and timelines running at once, sometimes literally just switching to a glimpse of Philby in Moscow and then going back to a scene in Beirut or wherever. What I find so odd is that Philby, real name Harold which the powers that be and the press should have called him to minimise the glamour of Kim imho, was such a crashing snob. I mean really, really bad. So he wouldn’t have given a flying whatever for the common man, let alone wanted to see the rise of communism where his place in society would theoretically be diminished or levelled down.
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Post by linseed on Aug 9, 2023 10:36:12 GMT
Yes I am still watching, it’s still very dark and not helped by the men being all in dark suits and similar (round) glasses!
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Post by sootycat on Aug 9, 2023 11:00:46 GMT
I am still watching too and enjoying it.
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Post by marion on Aug 15, 2023 8:01:10 GMT
I thought that was very good, and the documentary shown before the last episode was very interesting as well. I was actually extremely angry by the end of the documentary that so little happened to these awful people whose intel caused the deaths of so many operatives. And as for Anthony Blunt being able to live his life without any repercussions for so many years, well my blood was up! And John Cairncross who was the fifth man I believe, did anything actually happen to him? I don’t think it did.
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Anymore to come?
